To Tonga
pp. 57-58 · Read in the full issue
with love, from Helen
From Patricia Matheson In
Vavau
The Kingdom of Tonga and the Pacific world generally sustained a great loss when on 26 March, 1976, Helen Raitt, author and founder of the Tofua Press, died in her native California.
Helen first v,sited Tonga in *953 when her oceanographer husband, Dr Russell Ra,U ’ waS 00 an ex P edition sponsored by California’s Scnpps Institute. As wives were banned from the expedition ship, Helen was flying from port to port meeting “Russ” whenevershe could. When the ex 8 pedition reached Fiji, it planned to spend a month or so there, so Helen, still prohibited from travelling on the ship, took passage on a copra vessel for Vavau in Tonga.
Enraptured by the beauty of the country
Books
and the friendliness of the people, she call ed Russ and the heads of the expedition to come down and see it for themselves. They did and so much did they agree with her feelings about the islands of Tonga that, out of gratitude, they allowed her to ac company them on the trip back to Califor nia. From that experience grew her first book, Exploring the Deep Pacific, a fascinating volume that presents a layman’s view of the busy lives of oceanographers at work.
When the University of California at San Diego, of which Scripps is an integral part, was given a vast collection of Pacific
explorations, Helen’s thoughts turned
again to Tonga. Making frequent trips to the country, she recognised the lack there of easily-accessible material on the history and heritage of the islands and began Xeroxing out of the priceless volumes in the university library, all the sections rele vant to Tonga. Copies of these she dis tributed freely to Tongan schools and in dividuals.
As her own knowledge of the islands grew, she decided to found the Tofua Press to publish books which would make them better known both to their own people and to the outside world. Relating to young people as well as to those of her own age group, Helen made many friends among the Peace Corps and other volunteers.
Characteristically the first book put out by the Tofua Press was Gentle People, a survey and history of Vavau people written by ex-PCV Donna Gerstle. From time to time Helen employed at the press other former Peace Corps Volunteers as well as a number of Tongans and her home in La Jolla was well known as a centre for Tongans in Southern California.
Her wide knowledge of Tonga and the generosity with which she shared it, her willingness to listen to other people’s problems and to help them solve them and the gaiety with which she met life will long be remembered.
Christopher Gist, Helen’s grandson, who accompanied her on her last trip to Tonga in 1973 and took the pictures for Tofua Press’ Tongan Pictorial, has ex pressed the wish of her entire family and of her many friends that the press will con tinue to turn out books to help all the Islands. • Tofua Press’ latest book, Pukari, Voices of Papua New Guinea, is a collec tion of writings, songs and design by the students of Sogeri High School in PNG.
The book is the sequel to Helen Raitt’s visit to the school in 1973.